A Show Called Lost
by amanda145
Summary: This is an essay I wrote for my college english class. We got to choose what show we wanted to write about, so I chose Lost. Also I just found out that I got an A on it! rnDisclamer: I do not own Lost. J.J. Abrams does. I just used Lost for my subject


A Show Called _Lost_

Once in awhile a great television show is made. A show that finds a wide audience, has an interesting plot, developed characters, good writing, and has a unique format. Now, the television series _Lost_ might fit all the criteria and more with the mixing of television series genres and the different setting.

Over the years, not to many shows have taken place on an island. The most popular of those would have been _Gilligan's Island_ or _Survivor_. _Lost_'s setting is on a deserted island, which might not be so deserted. After a plane crash, 45 survivors have to learn to live together, get along, and become like a family to stay alive. However, there are other things on this island. One of them being a mysterious monster that the viewers never see.

Out of the castaways, 15 of them are main characters. Each of them has their own problems and stories. Every episode of _Lost_ takes place on the island, but focuses on one of the character's backstory. The backstory is flashbacks of the character's life before the crash and it relates to what is happening on the island in that episode. Bill Keveney of USA Today says "The strategy is to plant many mysteries and turn the focus onto the 40-plus crash survivors of Oceanic Airways Flight 815."

The writing of _Lost_ is very good. The writers, who are J.J. Abrams, Damon Lindelof, and Carlton Cuse, make the viewers understand the characters and throw in twists that no one saw coming. Also, the writers have made all of the characters connected somehow before the crash. The writers have come up with an excellent story line and it keeps the audience wanting to find out the island mysteries and about the characters.

One of the main characters on the show is Jack (Matthew Fox). Jack is a doctor and ends up becoming the leader of the castaways. Jack is one of the groups' most needed, especially when bad things happen. Through his backstory, we find out that he was on the plane because his father disappeared. Then Jack found him dead in Australia. He was heading back to LA with his father's body for the funeral, when the plane crashed. Jack then overcomes his fear of his father's disapproval of him while on the island, and becomes the leader he knew he could be.

Kate (Evangeline Lilly) is another main character. At first she seems like she is the good girl next door type who would never do any wrong, but when Jack finds her police mug shots, he finds out that Kate was a fugitive. The viewers only know that Kate killed someone, but she might have been framed. Still, Kate is a well-liked character who does good now. Kate was on the plane because she had been caught in Australia. Now Kate has become involved in a love triangle with Jack and Sawyer (Josh Holloway) who both want to be with her.

Sawyer has had a troubled life. He was on the hunt for the person, who made Sawyer's dad kill himself and Sawyer's mom when he was little, when the plane crashed. At fist Sawyer seemed like a bad character that stole and was a con artist, but he is now being redeemed. Sawyer is not even his real name, it's James. He took the name Sawyer, which was the con man's name who did all those things to his parents, so he could find him. However, Sawyer still was not able to find the real Sawyer. Sawyer cracks jokes at the others, can be really mean at times, but it is just his way to deal with what has happened to him.

Charlie (Dominic Monaghan) was a member of a British rock band named _DriveShaft_ before the plane crash. Charlie was a drug addict, but being on the island has helped him to stop using the drugs. He was in Australia visiting his brother to try to get the band back together, but it did not work out because Liam wanted to spend time with his family. That is why Charlie was going back to England. Charlie now, being on the island, met and is falling in love with Claire (Emilie de Ravin). Claire was on the plane to give her unborn baby up for adoption in LA after her boyfriend left her, or so she thought. Back in Australia a physic told her that she was the only one who could raise her baby, but he knew about the crash and did not tell her. He set her up so she would get on the plane. She's still pregnant on the show and she is falling in love with Charlie too.

Locke (Terry O'Quinn) is another big character. He is very mysterious and he is the only one who has seen the monster. Before the crash, Locke was paralyzed, but the crash has made him able to walk again. Locke is the hunter out of the castaways. He is also a good tracker and knows a lot about animals. Locke helps the castaways out with their problems and somehow might know about the other castaways' backstories. Locke is so mysterious that the audience does not know if he is good or bad.

Other characters are Hurley (Jorge Garcia), who won the lottery, but might be cursed, and is the comic relief of the show and makes everyone laugh; and Sayid (Naveen Andrews), an ex Iraqi solider who left because he realised that what the Iraqi military was doing was wrong. He is also developing feelings for Shannon (Maggie Grace). Shannon is a young rich girl who really hates being on the island and her stepbrother Boone (Ian Somerhalder), who is in love with Shannon and used to payoff her boyfriends to leave her. Some other characters are Jin (Daniel Dae Kim) and Sun (Yunjin Kim), who are a married Korean couple with a lot of problems, one of them being that Sun's dad was in the Korean mafia. Then there is Michael (Harold Perrineau) who just got custody of his 10-year-old son Walt (Malcolm David Kelly), who might have special powers to create things from his mind. The last character is Vincent, Walt's dog.

The acting of _Lost_ is great. The actors make the characters believable and can even change your mind about the characters. Most of the cast are either new comers, haven't been on a television series before, acted in movies, or been away from acting for awhile. Each actor is great as his or her character. They all give outstanding performances every episode.

As the show goes along, we learn that there are other people who live on the island. Two of them, so far, have been discovered. One is a slightly crazy French scientist named Danielle, who had been on the island for 16 years. The rest of her crew was killed, except her child Alex, who Danielle has not been able to find. The other is Ethan. He kidnapped Charlie and Claire, tortured them and the other castaways, and killed one of the castaways too. Then Charlie killed Ethan for what he had done to him and Claire. Now, the castaways are pretty sure that Ethan was part of another group that was already on the island and might want to hurt them.

If there were a flaw in _Lost_, it would have to be that some of the viewers do not want to see the flashbacks. They would rather see more of what is happening on the island. However, the flashbacks give details on the characters and relate to what is happening on the island. If the flashbacks were not in the series, we wouldn't be able to see how the characters were before the crash.

The island is full of so many mysteries, like polar bears and boars living on the island, along with the monster. _Lost_ is such a unique show that blends drama, comedy, science/fiction, action/adventure, and romance. This show is very popular and it is only in it's first season. It looks like _Lost_ has been found.

Work's Cited

1. Keveney, Bill. "Lost Island burns with mystery". Rev. of Lost. USA Today. 23 Feb. 2005


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